Israel apartheid week 2017 launched in France, Ireland

SHAFAQNA – Running from March 6 to March 18, Apartheid Week events will take place at universities in large French cities, such as Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Montpellier, Lille, Toulouse, Grenoble and Rennes, as well as smaller locales such as Saint-Nazarine. They will kick off with a seminar at the Paris 8 Saint Denis University with the participation of two BDS activists from abroad.

The “Israel” Apartheid Week caused outrage as the entity’s ambassador to France asked mayors in the country to reject anti-“Israeli” BDS events in their cities.

Also, representatives of the CRIF – the French Jewry umbrella organization – said it had launched calls on social networks to engage its members against BDS meetings in the various cities.

In Ireland, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign [IPSC] organized a street theatre act on Henry St, to raise awareness about the inhumane and unjust daily life that the Palestinian’s face at checkpoints under the “Israeli” apartheid regime.

Head of the IPSC, Faten Tamimi said that a group of Palestinian and Irish activists had set up a mimic wall and checkpoint in Dublin, where some of the activists dressed as soldiers and carried guns, and stopped the Irish citizens and began investigating them and taking their ID cards, in addition to arrests only to show the experience the Palestinians go through, to reflect the restriction of movement and human rights violations by these acts.

Tamimi added that dozens of Irish citizens, if not hundreds, have lived under similar conditions that Palestinians have also been through, and have interacted with the activity, by asking questions and wanting to know more about it.

Groups in the US, Europe and Africa [mostly South Africa] are holding similar events in March and April. According to the BDS website, 225 cities held Apartheid Week events in 2016. The first “Israel” Apartheid Week was held in 2005.